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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Spring Placemats and a GIVE-AWAY!! ~ Now CLOSED

I'm lucky enough to be taking part in SewCalGal's Spring Themed Blog Hop! Follow the link to find the other blogs participating! Yey! and I am so happy to offer you this place-mat tutorial. I used 30's reproduction prints for my baskets and a white fabric for the background. So nice and spring-like! But, I also think these place-mats would look amazing in country fabrics or in bright fabrics on a black background. I also thought that the baskets were very appropriate since Easter is coming up and these would look just amazing on the table Easter morning.

This tutorial features the Accuquilt Go!Bountiful Baskets die by Alex Anderson. This is such a great die for cutting this cut little basket block. Because this block is copyrighted I can't give you the cutting directions here but don't worry!! Alex Anderson gives a video tutorial on constructing this block that you can access here. And, you can access the cutting instructions here if you don't have this amazing die! If you want another Basket tutorial you can click on my Wednesday Blog Hop buddy Bits and Pieces because she did the baskets die as well. Who would have thunk it LOL!

To compare and contrast the die cuts versus cutting by hand I cut one basket block completely according to Alex's directions and video and the rest with the Go! I can honestly say that not only is cutting easier on the Go! but it is less wasteful! I get that question all of the time - is the Go! wasteful? Nope not at all for this block! Alex's rotary cutting directions on the video ask you to start with 2 squares 5" x 7" and doing this wastes a lot of your feature fabric. With the Go! Bountiful Baskets die you can just cut your squares and lay them on with very little waste. I put the picture up of the cuts so that you could see how tight they are - yey!! I don't like wasting fabric. And with the price of fabric - here in Canada we pay about $16.00 a meter - less wasted fabric is great! And, having those dog ears cut off makes the piecing sooo easy!

Ok - so now that you have all made your postage stamp baskets (you will need 4 for each place-mat) you will also need 2 squares 5" x 5" - if you have the 5" square die you can use that and cut two for each place-mat. You will also need one rectangle 8.5" x 14.5" for each place-mat. Using the picture at the top lay out your place-mats and sew them together using a 1/4" seam.

Layer your place-mats with batting and backing and quilt as desired. Because I used some nice vintage fabrics I machine quilted them with a feather motif. If you don't want to bind your place-mats you can also do the inside out method. If you would like a tutorial on the inside out method I give one here. I chose to bind my place-mats to give them a more vintage look and because I had that nice print that I love! If you do choose to bind your place-mats you will need 2 strips, for each place-mat, 2' by the width of fabric. Need a binding tutorial? You can find one right here.

Now for a give-away! It's spring and I love that everything is coming back and is lovely so I am offering 10 die-cut Butterflies and Dragonflies (5 of each) that I featured back in this post. I have already put Steam a Seam fusible webbing on the backs so all you need to do is peel, stick and stitch! Sweet!

I'll send 5 whole dragonflies but 5 bodies separated from the butterfly bodies so you can mix and match. (Ok UPDATE! I'm sending you everything that you see in the above photo! It's more than I originally said - and it includes an extra set of dragon fly wings that you can attach to one of the extra bodies. I'm sending 9 bodies in total) You will absolutely love working with these little guys and they would look great on any quilt!

Ok here's the fine print!

For one chance to win you can comment on this post. Tell me why you would love to win these little cuties or what you would make with them.

For a second chance to win, become a follower and leave another comment here for a second entry. If you already follow my blog that's fine just leave a comment here telling me that you do.

For a third chance, blog about my giveaway and leave another comment here telling me where I can find your post!

For a fourth chance to win like me on Facebook and leave another comment here. Again, if you already like me on Facebook just tell me so in a comment.

Every comment is your entry - 1 comment one entry ;-)

Please, please make sure your blogger is not set to no-reply!!!! Please see a previous post here on how to make sure that you are not a no-reply blogger! If a no-reply blogger is chosen then I will be forced to draw another name and I really don't want to do that!

So what do you think? Do you want to make some great basket place-mats? I hope that you will enter my give-away to win some great die-cut critters! And don't forget to visit the other bloggers!

We'll end the Give-Away Sunday so get entering and good luck! The give-away is now closed ~ thank you so much for all who entered!

117 comments:

Love your blog! Those butterflies and dragonflies are fabulous! My stepmom is crazy over dragonflies so I make all kinds of things with dragonflies for her -- quilts, totes, placemats, etc. I'd love to have some die-cut dragonflies to use. The butterflies would likely go on a baby quilt. I made a twister baby quilt recently and added an applique butterfly for fun. The concept was cute, but I wasn't really happy with my butterfly -- my art is a little lacking. A die-cut butterfly would be just the thing!

What adorable placemats, though I could never make them in white for my sloppy crew!!! Thanks for the give away of the die cuts. Why would I like to win them? Because that is one die I haven't purchased yet and they would look great with some flowers (which die I do have!!)! Thanks for the tute and the give away chance!!

I haven't made any basket placemats or quilts yet and was holding off as they looked complicated. But with the basket die, it looks so much easier. The placemat is very cute, especially for Easter basket time.

I would love to win these cute little critters. I fell in love with them on your other post, but have no die-cutter to cut them with. I think I would make something springy for my table - placemats or a table runner. I also think I got my ID fixed so I'm no longer a "no-reply". Thanks for the link.

My sister in law who is going through cancer treatments loves butterflies and dragonflies - so i would make her a quilt with them! She is a quilter too so she would love it even more!thanks for the lovely giveaway.butler83ataoldotcom

New grandniece or grandnephew is due this summer so these appliques would look great sprinkled around a baby quilt. Thanks for the explanation on basket blocks and the Spring projects. Please enter me into the giveaway too.

I would love to be able to use those dragonflies, for a couple of projects I am working on. One is for a special needs project. The recipient lovesssss dragonflies. And the second project I would use the dragon flies on a quilt I am trying to finish. That would be like the icing on the cake!

Your butterflies and dragonflies are adorable; the dragonflies bring back memories of my daughter when she was afraid of them even though other bugs were ok. Why? Because the word 'dragon...' scared her. She's all grown up now; a patchwork quilt with butterflies and dragonflies on top of the patchwork would make her smile!Thanks very much.